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Monday, March 23, 2009
Busy Busy BusyS has dubbed Baby A the "time vampire." And so she is... just when you think you'll have a few minutes to do something, anything... there she is, demanding something! So sometimes it takes me 3 weeks to update the blog. SIGH.But it has been an eventful month. My dad turned 65, and Baby A got her first good look at cake. I think she liked what she saw, even though she still can only eat it "second hand."  She's also graduated to facing out in the baby carrier, which means that she no longer falls asleep on dog walks, but also that she has a lot more fun (and we can go on more of them, so Abby is a happy doggy!)  She also got 2 lovely bibs from Chaos and Mayhem - I love these bibs so much that I already have raided my stash for some suitable yarns, and plan to cast on as soon as I finish a pair of socks for our lovely neighbor who gives us the occasional home cooked meal or freshly baked loaf of bread.   And speaking of finished - I knit S a sweater! It's mostly the Cobblestone Pullover from Interweave, but with some modifications. It fits him, and he was actually able to wear it before it got too warm!  I feel like there was so much more I wanted to post about, but instead all I can think about is putting away the laundry and feeding the dog. Such is the brain of someone who dealt with a baby who decided to pass on just about all of her naps today! Labels: Baby, Baby Gifts 0 comments || # Tuesday, March 03, 2009 Hand Knits for BabiesWhew! Time is flying, and not much blogging gets done. But we're slowly but surely settling into a "schedule" with these amazing things called "naps" and "bedtimes," so things are definitely looking up! I'm still plugging away on S' sweater - I've almost got the body done, and need to add about 3" on each sleeve before joining everything for the yoke. At this rate, I'll finish just in time for spring!To distract you from my inability to take pictures of any actual knitting, allow me to present what Baby A thinks of her handknit hat and mittens, courtesy of Mommy...  Apparently she'd rather have cold hands and a cold head. Silly baby! Luckily, she is MUCH more appreciative of the hand-knit sweaters, like this lovely one from Ann...  and this equally luscious one from Shanti...  What a lucky baby! And not to be left out, S finally got to give Baby A her very first birthday present from Daddy - a limited edition fountain pen engraved just for her. While she did try to grab it a few times, apparently "writing with a fountain pen" is not one of the skills she'll master by 3 months, so we're putting the fountain pen somewhere safe until she's old enough to use it!  S has also, by necessity, been practicing his baby-soothing methods. Here is my personal favorite - he bends her over his hand and jiggles her with his knee until her tummy feels better - and sometimes she falls asleep...  ... but sometimes she doesn't, which necessitates a puppy walk with her strapped to S' chest. She's extra-pissed about the hat, so she's tickling S in the armpits to get even!  But don't worry, Abby is definitely a big help. Not only does she selflessly go on extra puppy walks some nights, but she also makes sure that the blanket we use for tummy time doesn't blow away! What a helpful doggy!  This past weekend, S' parents were in town on their way from Florida to Minnesota (yes, they brought the snow. Blame them!) So Abby had her little buddy, Barney, to help keep Baby A in line...  And finally, we all enjoyed a quick walk in the snow yesterday - and Baby A got to use her snowsuit!  She fell asleep on the walk, so S thought she should make a little snow angel before we went inside.  (good grief, I think this post is completely nonsensical, but at least it's a post!) Labels: Baby, Baby Gifts 1 comments || # Monday, October 06, 2008 WOOOT!!!S spent the weekend in Minnesota catching up with his family, which left me with huge spaces of time to fill with knitting. My goal? Finish something. Anything.So I tackled the Little Monster Dale sweater. First, I headed to the local fabric store and picked up some buttons (making sure they were washable)...  I love these buttons. They work for either gender, they are sturdy (so they shouldn't snap off and get eaten, God forbid), and they were the right size. Oh, and they were cheap AND on sale! After the button-shopping expedition, I settled in to the finishing work. Dale patterns are REALLY fiddly. You sew down plackets, you knit facings, you sew down hems... lots of little details. This, for example, is what the armhole seam looks like.  But I kept on with the fiddly bits, and kept plugging away at the button bands, the seams, the neckband, the buttons, the weaving-in-of-ends...  And ended up blocking this at about 10 pm last night. I think I can say that I have NEVER done this much detailed finishing on a sweater. Do I think all of my seams need to be covered by facings? No. But I do think that forcing myself to attend to all of these picky little details will make me that much better- after all, every project will benefit from a little extra TLC during those final finishing steps.  And since I had the blocking board out, I blocked the Little Monster Aran. Two baby sweaters ready for the Little Monster! Now, if those borders for the sheepie blanket would just knit themselves...  Finished 1. Sew 3 baby bumpers for crib 2. Baby aran sweater 3. Baby Dale of Norway sweater Almost Finished 1. Dad's Christmas Vest (cut steeks, neck and arm bands, sew in ends, block) 2. Sheepie Blanket (finish borders, assemble blanket) 3. Finally hem living room and dining room curtains 4. Socks for S Haven't Started 1. Shaun the Sheep mobile for Little Monster 2. Chicken Hats for S and Little Monster (don't ask... really no rational explanation) 3. Sew sleep sacks for Little Monster 4. Sew ring sling for Little Monster 5. Sew crib sheets for Little Monster Labels: Baby Gifts 0 comments || # Tuesday, September 30, 2008 Actual Knitting!!Perhaps this is the beginning of that infamous "nesting" phase, or perhaps I'm just getting tired of all of the piles of unfinished knitting projects lying around... but I'm trying my best to work through the rest of them!My one success so far - I've actually completely finished the Little Monster Aran!! I'm really pleased with how this one turned out - the sweater itself is based on a baby sweater from Inspired Cable Knits, but, since I didn't like the cables in the original, I substituted cables from one of Elspeth Lavold's Viking Knits books.  I also busted out the sewing machine and steeked the Little Monster Dale of Norway... I've since attached both sleeves and done one of the button bands. I need to tidy up a bunch of the seaming (Dale patterns are nothing if not finishing-intensive!), pick out buttons, and polish this one off as well... but I've been in a wicked head-cold fog since Sunday, and didn't want to risk screwing something up. Perhaps this weekend!  And finally, the Sheepie Blanket is progressing - I've sewed each of my 3 strips, and have done one of the side borders. I'm in the process of doing the other side border now.... I may go back and re-do the green border, as I ended up picking up too many stitches, causing the border to flare out a bit at the edge. So if I do a better job the second time around, I may go back and do a fix... we'll see! I think I'm going to have to start taking this one with me on the metro to make some real progress, but I don't want to pick up stitches on the train, so I'll keep it at home for the moment.  So I have 3 major projects I need to finish up - the Dale, the Sheepie Blanket, and my dad's vest. I think I can make it! Labels: Baby Gifts, Sheepie Blanket 0 comments || # Monday, June 02, 2008 A Long-Overdue UpdateWow.... I think I only managed three posts in May. Hopefully things will get back on track soon - the main problem, as usual these last 8 months, is my job. The hours have eased up, but I still just fundamentally don't like it, and I've found that my negative attitude is infecting other parts of my life. I'm fighting this as much as possible, but sometimes it's tough to shake off the bad mood that starts when I get out of bed on a weekday. This past weekend, I headed off to the beach in Florida for what should have been a wonderful summer associate retreat... and it was lovely, but it was really hard to overcome my "anti-work" feelings enough to relax and have a good time. I couldn't help but think to myself that, by the time these summer associates start in Fall, 2009, I will be long gone from big law. In fact, my current goal is to be on my way out starting December 1, 2008. So far, things are right on track to make that realistic. So only six more months to go!Of course, it's not just my attitude that interferes with posting. Sometimes, certain members of the family decide that there are more important things to do instead of sitting in front of the computer. For example, perhaps a snuggle or two are in order?  I just wish Cricket weren't so subtle about getting my attention! We made it camping a few weeks ago, and Abby proved that, if you look cute enough, S will pick you up and carry you. S apparently calls this a "puppy walk." I tried to point out that he seems to be a little confused about the "walk" part, but apparently Abby always gets what she wants!  I took advantage of the slightly-slower doggy walking pace to snap a few pictures of spring finally arriving in the Shenandoah mountains:   Abby enjoyed the beautiful weather with a nice nap in the sunny spot in front of the tent. I just wish I could have this view out of my front door all the time!  Once we got home, however, Abby proved why she was decidedly NOT underweight after being on her own with a broken leg AND with puppies to feed. She's killed two more possums, and this morning she chased a bird across the street, leaped over a bush, and killed it too. She's definitely able to feed herself just fine should we somehow forget her extra-fancy gourmet doggy food! Oh, and there's KNITTING! I know, shocking. But really - I've been plugging away.... First up - an almost finished baby kimono! I just bought the ribbons for the closures last night, so it's not completely done - but the baby shower isn't until Saturday, so I should be ok.  And another pair of plain socks - socks that rock in pink granite, for me. I'm about 4 rows away from finishing, so I haven't bothered to take it with me on various metro trips etc... because I know I'll finish in about 10 minutes. Consequently, these have sat around for about a month waiting for me to spend those last 10 minutes finishing them. SIGH.  I dug out Wild Apple again for my metro knitting - I decided to just bite the bullet and plow through the stockinette sections so I can perhaps finish this in the next five years! I've done the back, a sleeve, and am almost done with the second sleeve. I haven't decided about whether to put in ribbing or a hem, so I've left all the bottom edges on waste yarn to decide later. I'm predicting that this will sit in a bag with the Union Square Market Pullover waiting for me to get a wild "seaming urge," which will probably never happen. Maybe I'll force myself to finish these up after the job bites the dust!  And lest you think I'm neglecting the Sheepie Blanket (which I have been, but no matter!), here's the fifth square I've completed -  12 ends. I may also have started swatching for my dad's 2008 vest. I'm really digging the muted colors, but next year's might have to be a riot of reds and golds.  So I should have no problem refraining from buying yarn in the next few months - here's a list of projects either in progress (and not just waiting for finishing!) or on deck, and for which I have yarn:
Whew! Maybe if I were to update more often, the entries wouldn't be such novels! One can always dream, I guess... Labels: Baby Gifts, Camping, Dad's Vest, Sheepie Blanket, Socks, Wild Apple 0 comments || # Sunday, November 18, 2007 What a Week!S and I spent nearly all day yesterday looking at houses and neighborhoods and thinking and discussing. With a decision this big, it's so hard to know... Plus, I'm coming off of quite the week at work. It's not that there is anything wrong with the job or the people or the environment, but I am in the position of knowing that this, specifically, is most definitely not what I want to do for the rest of my life... but after 6 weeks, one can hardly walk away and feel as if one has given it a fair shot. So I am trying to muddle through, and do the best I can without sacrificing everything else in my life... but trying to keep a positive attitude each day is a challenge. And without a positive attitude, there is no way I can make it through the year plus that I have promised myself I would give this job. SIGH. In the meantime, there is much cuteness chez-Musing. Here is an example of what bed-time looks like each night, and an excellent illustration of why we needed to buy a king-sized bed...  And here is an illustration of what happens when you sit down. Be warned - get the remote, your drink, and anything else you might need BEFORE you sit down... the animals are firmly in charge, and they don't appreciate being disturbed!  And for no apparent reason - beautiful fall flowers I bought at TJ's. They last forever, and they are simply stunning...   Oh, right. This was supposed to be a knitting blog. Well, here are a couple of finished objects... Baby socks - same 2 pairs that I made for my mom to send to France. These are emergency socks for the next time I need a baby gift at short notice.  And the rest of the finished socks are Christmas gifts, so I won't write much about them, and the pictures will be behind the link. If you are related to me by blood or marriage, don't click!! Finished Socks 1 Finished Socks 2 Finished Socks 3 Labels: Baby Gifts, Socks 0 comments || # Thursday, July 26, 2007 Relief? Uncertainty? Is it Really Over? I have no idea how I did, and I won't find out until November. So I'm going to try my best to forget about it until then, and enjoy my upcoming wedding, all of this free time, and some KNITTING!!! But first, a reminder that, if you have to spend a lot of time sitting at your desk, it helps to have reinforcements...  And speaking of cute pets, here's Abby demonstrating her cooling mat - it's filled with water, and it really helps cool her down quickly when she comes back from her summer-time walks. She didn't really like it at first, but now she runs straight to it as soon as she gets back!  Cricket, meanwhile, has been training S about how we have to eat yogurt around here. See, S was under the impression that the person ate the yogurt, and the cat licked the container afterwards. Silly boy! Cricket likes to eat off of the spoon!  And later, she likes to guard her crack-nip pillow and have a nice nap in her super-delux kitty tower of craziness.  And this picture is just too freakin cute... apparently, it was nap time, and everyone curled up on their pillows....  And finally - some KNITTING!!! I finished the little baby kimono - love this pattern!! I used some Second Time Cotton from stash, and finished off with some sheer pink ribbon I picked up at the craft store this morning. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be off to the expectant parents - I missed her baby shower because I was studying, so I'm glad I was able to get this done!  Well, off to enjoy more free-time... and tomorrow, a trip to KH!! Labels: Baby Gifts 0 comments || # Wednesday, July 11, 2007 Whimper WhimperIn 2 weeks at this time, I'll be taking the second day of the bar exam. I think July 26th should be a national holiday. I will celebrate by spending the ENTIRE DAY NOT STUDYING. And then, the next day, I think I'll wake up, take a shower, and NOT STUDY. In fact, I think that every day for the rest of the summer, I'll wake up and NOT STUDY.Unfortunately, it is NOT July 26th, and I'm in the last 2 weeks of deeply unpleasant studying. SIGH. But at least I managed to write out all of my flashcards last week and this weekend.... all 1100 + of them. I think I pulled something in my thumb, but there is a whole lot less writing, and a whole lot more flash-card memorizing in this stage of studying, so hopefully my hand will get a nice rest. :) Speaking of "rest" - here's what it looks like at bedtime around here... it's all blurry and black and white because S didn't want to disturb the fuzzles with the flash (sigh) and, in color, the picture looked WAY trippy.  Cricket, when she's not helping me stretch my arms, is helping with a little light dusting around the house... or she's been sticking her head in some corner to tell us we need to break out the swiffer...  Henry (who misses me terribly, I'm sure since I haven't touched him in weeks), did get bigger before he got stuffed in a bag to wait for "Finally Done With Studying Day."  I also may have cheated on Henry just a little bit - but it was for a good cause - cute baby sweater! (I know - there are other baby sweaters out there. But this pattern is SO AWESOME!)  Why yes, this IS the 3rd baby kimono I've made. I see no problem with that. I can stop whenever I want to.... as long as no one else I know is expecting! And finally - we bought a bird feeder a few weeks ago - and it's the most popular bird feeder in the neighborhood. The little sparrows line up on the cement wall to wait their turns - sorry for the bad pick, but I had to take it through the window, because they freak out if you open the door. Both Cricket and Abby like to watch "bird TV"!  Back to studying. Will be back July 26th. Labels: Baby Gifts, Henry VIII 0 comments || # |
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